


View From the Top

by Jubalii



Category: Coco (2017)
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Humor, Oneshot, comission, date
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-01
Updated: 2019-06-01
Packaged: 2020-04-05 18:47:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19046245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jubalii/pseuds/Jubalii
Summary: This oneshot was commissioned by GaylartMess, who wanted a scene with Felipe and her OC, Valeria. I had a lot of fun writing this and I think it turned out really well!





	View From the Top

**Author's Note:**

  * For [GaylartMess](https://archiveofourown.org/users/GaylartMess/gifts).



Municipal parks were one of the few places of abundant nature in the Land of the Dead. Cempasúchil flowers were fine every now and again, but sometimes a body just yearned for grass, bushes, even the occasional tree. Of course, the grass had to be sod, and the bushes hypoallergenic, and the trees were metal instead of wooden. But it was the _atmosphere_ that mattered.

Of course, atmosphere didn’t always stop the city from intruding on sanctity. Today it was the jarring screech of brakes, rubber skidding across pavement with an ear-wrenching squeal. Sunbathers lifted their glasses, looking with cautious interest towards the front gates. A collision was bound to follow such a horrid sound, and yet… nothing happened.

“¡ _Oye_! Someone stop that _alebrije_!” The screamed orders startled a gossipy pair of elderly women, the shorter jumping hard enough that her eyeballs nearly slid from their sockets into the fountain. A group of shrieking children paused in their play to see what grownup was causing such a fuss; one of them pointed to a green line snaking over their heads, temptingly out of reach.

“Look!” they laughed, the game forgotten as they chased the winding ribbon over the manufactured turf. The adults were less enthused in the lone creature, their attention turned instead towards the motorbike that careened into a parallel parking space beside the main entrance. The speeding bike nearly overtook the curb, the front wheel popping against the sidewalk before slamming back into place.

“Now see here!” the park’s public safety guard began, waving his baton in lieu of a scolding finger as he approached the bike’s two occupants. “We can’t be—” The driver leapt from the seat before he could finish, tossing the helmet to the turf and charging into the park without a word. “Wh—huh?” he gaped, the baton dangling loosely from his fingers.

“ _Perdonanos_ ,” the gangly rider laughed nervously, taking off his own helmet and adjusting his glasses before following the driver into the park. He paused only to pick up the abandoned helmet, juggling both as he jogged towards a faux oak in the center of the park that was already drawing a crowd. The guard stared openly, making no effort to stop him as he stood next to the abandoned bike.

 “It’s here,” the children told the driver, gathering around and tugging at the hem of her leather jacket. “In the tree!”

“It went towards the top,” one boy said, mumbling around one of his metacarpals.

“So I see,” she replied, peering into the silken foliage with a pensive frown. She turned, as her companion joined them beneath the oak, curls bouncing around her bright markings. “Found ‘em.”

“Valeria…” He let the helmets drop to his feet, hands on his knees as he caught his breath. “Is this… absolutely… necessary?”

“Where’s your sense of adventure, Felipe?” she replied. “I asked Lupe to guide us, after all; I just didn’t expect it to be here.”

“Is that your _alebrije?_ ” one of the kids asked, mouth hanging open as she craned her neck.

“Sure is!” Valeria smiled, turning back to the branches. “Well… the way I see it, Lupe guided me to this tree for a reason.” She caressed one of the metal branches with the air of a connoisseur, staring at the broad trunk before nodding to herself. “So there’s nothing left to do but see what there is to see.”

“In the tree?” Felipe asked weakly, scratching his head. “What could you possibly see up there?”

“Only one way to find out.” She grinned cheekily, shaking the curls from her face before hoisting herself onto the lowest branch. Her boots scrambled on the trunk, hollow metal _thuds_ ringing with every slap of her heels against the expertly painted metal. The children surged forward, half a dozen little hands pushing at her jeans until she was safely standing on the branch looking back at them.

“B-but…” Felipe raised his hands, letting them fall helplessly to his sides after a moment. “Where are you supposed to go?”

“Up, I guess.” She waved at them, winking saucily before searching for a suitable foothold. All around her the silk leaves fluttered, each one painted in exquisite detail; had she not known better, she might have been money that they were real. She breathed deeply, filling her nonexistent lungs with the tree—fake sap scent and faint iron laying heavy on her tongue.

Climbing trees was pure muscle (bone?) memory for her; she’d been doing it her entire life. The hobby had even caused her death: something she was _not_ keen to remember. The consequences of recklessness—even accidental—had been a hard lesson learned, hammering itself in further and further each _Día de Muertos_ she spent with, and yet without, Alejandro. Just watching her twin grow older without her made her heart ache in the worst way, but she had to press forward. And pressing forward meant overcoming her death by any means necessary… even exposure therapy.

The limbs near the top of the oak were thinner, the metal bending with supple grace in her hands as she tried to swing her way up, up, up. Lupe’s iridescent wings were just above her; the _alebrije_ was resting on the tip of a swaying branch. In the back of her mind, the image of a dragonfly resting on a cattail formed and she paused to laugh. The wind rustled the silk around her and she tightened her grip, heart pounding against her upper vertebrae for a split-second.

_I’m fine. It’s okay to be afraid, but I’m fine._

“Lupe,” she choked instead, making a conscious effort to _not_ look down between her boots at the ground below her. It would be embarrassing to freeze; Felipe would have to climb up after her, and if they both fell it would be the worst date in the history of dating. “Lupe, come down.” Lupe’s wings flickered in the afternoon light, the _alebrije’s_ soft eyes regarding her as it lifted from the branch and twirled sinuously in midair.

“Lupe!” she groaned, shaking her head and brushing the lowest hanging leaves from her eyes. “I mean it, come down right… now.” With both hands clutching the branch above her, she stared from a gap in the leaves down at the beautiful, _wonderful_ world spread out beneath her.

From this height she could see over the park, over the shoppes, over the thoroughfare itself and down, _down_ to the wide world below. Nothing escaped her awestruck gaze: the shimmering waters at the horizon, the multilane highways snaking between spires, the blinking lights of air-trams as they carried countless passengers to and fro, back and forth, endless and forever. Shantytown twinkled in the shadow of high rises, a sprawling city beneath a city.

“ _Que maravilloso_ ….”

Just across from her vantage point, on the lowest platform of a neighboring spire, she saw it. A large plaza with its own lookout point, ringed in skull-laden wrought iron. They seemed to be setting up for some kind of local festival; she could see several food trucks surrounding a newly erected platform… a bandstand, perhaps? There seemed to be a general air of activity, and she knew then that, without a doubt, this is what she was meant to see.

Lupe landed on her shoulder and peered intently at her face before rubbing along her cheekbone. She patted her _alebrije_ absently, her mind already racing as she turned to descend the tree as fast as possible. The impish impulse to freefall onto the soft turf crossed her mind, but it was quickly squashed by a deep-set fear that resounded in her marrow. _Someday. Not yet, but someday._

Felipe and the children still surrounded the tree as she dropped from the lowest branches, landing with a thump on her soles in their midst. The children cheered, clamoring for a good look at Lupe, who preened above them with an air of smugness. Felipe checked her over silently, concern written on his features; she smiled, offering a thumbs-up and brightening further when she saw him visibly relax.

“I saw it,” she told him confidently, hands on her hips.

“Saw what?” he replied, browbone furrowed. “Was there something else up there?”

“I saw… our date. Where we’ll go.” He made a face. “It’s only one platform over. We can take the freeway down and cross on the toll road at the bottom of the spire.” When his expression didn’t change, she felt her good spirits waver. “What’s wrong? Would you rather take the ferry?”

“I suppose we’ll take the tram, if we take anything,” he mumbled regretfully.

“What? Why?” Felipe winced, skull sinking down towards his ribcage as he scratched his cheek. She glanced around, noticing for the first time that the children had grown quiet. “Did... something happen?”

“The guard… for reckless driving, you see… he impounded the bike.”

“He _what_?!”

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed!   
> For commission info, please check my Ko-Fi page at ko-fi.com/jubalii


End file.
